Kuala Lampur, April 15 -- I have watched more anime in the last two years than I have in my entire lifetime; mostly because I now find Western storytelling very dull.

Whenever I see the Booker list I wonder which tale of midlife crisis/adultery/diaspora disenchantment but written to appeal to Caucasian high-brow tastes made it to the list this time.

My favourite recent read has been Taiwan writer Yang Shuang-zi's Taiwan Travelogue; I wasn't sure if I'd like the fiction pretending to be non-fiction literary gimmick but it was entertaining and as someone who loves food, particularly Taiwanese food, it did not disappoint.

One of my hobbies is collecting foreign language books and books about learning foreign languages.

I feel they mock m...